I would like to ask not only Catholics, but everyone in town -- Catholics, non-Catholics, Christians, non-Christians to come.

SPRINGFIELD - The Rev. George Zina, pastor of St. Anthony Maronite Catholic Church, had much to celebrate the first week in June. The parish was about to hold its 2nd Annual Lebanese Festival, and Zina had begun to spread the news that the parish will receive the relic of St. Anthony of Padua during the second week of September.

A statue of St. Anthony inside St. Anthony of Padua Maronite Catholic Church on Island Pond Road, in Springfield.MICHAEL S. GORDON THE REPUBLICAN

"It took me two days. I went to Padua and I fought very hard for it," said Zina, of the fact that the parish is being allowed a bone relic, encased in a gold statue of the saint, for nine days. When relics of the saint toured last year in the United Kingdom, an estimated one-quarter of a million people viewed them.

Anthony, who died near the Italian city of Padua, and who is buried in the basilica there that bears his name, is considered one of the Catholic Church's most universally popular saints. Born in Portugal, in 1195, he is beloved in a number of cultures, for his patronage to the sick and for his charity to the poor, and is often referred to as the "Messenger of Hope." He first joined the Augustinians, but later took the habit of the Franciscans to go to Morocco, where he got seriously ill. Bad weather, on the forced return journey, landed him in Sicily. Franciscans there discovered his ability to preach, and, it is said, the order's founder -- Francis of Assisi - sent him to preach in northern Italy. He is the saint many, Christian or not, appealed to when car keys, or other vital or cherished items, get misplaced.

"I would like to ask not only Catholics, but everyone in town -- Catholics, non-Catholics, Christians, non-Christians, to come," said Zina, referring to the many activities planned in honor of the relic. "He is a saint of miracles. He is the saint for when there is a loss, for when one is searching for meaning and happiness. He gives us answers. He can respond to our questions, and our wondering."

A morning procession, on Sept. 6, from St. Michael's Cathedral on State Street, will bring the relic to the parish on Island Pond Road, where there will be a liturgy, and events for high school students later in the day. Other days will be themed for different heritages, including Latino, Italian, Polish, and Vietnamese, and include talks about the saint's life, as well as a novena and veneration of the relic.

Zina said his interest in having the relic at the parish is threefold. The first has to do with Monsignor Paul Abi Saab, a Lebanese priest who was invited, in 1908, by the Most Rev. Thomas Beaven, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, to establish a Maronite mission here, that was called Saints Peter and Paul.

"After awhile, he got sick and was close to death. The parishioners got scared. They worried that nobody else would come to serve them. They started a novena to St. Anthony of Padua. The monsignor was healed, and the parishioners changed the name of the church to St. Anthony." Zina said.

The second reason, he said, also has to do with gratitude around a more recent event -- the 2011 tornadoes that spared the church, while destroying much of the surrounding neighborhood. The third reason, he called the "most important."

"In this society, it is easy to forget the work of God," Zina said. "Before I was assigned to Springfield, I went to Padua to give me help for a new challenge. I did not know that the parish I was going to was named for St. Anthony. When I got here, I found there was no novena to the saint in the parish, and not very much was known about him. So, I decided to bring people back to him."

Zina will make the official announcement of the relic's reception at the parish on June 13, the saint's feast day. The parish will also be given a small relic of the saint to keep. Zina noted the saint has been credited with many miracles, including raising a woman from the dead, drawing attentive fish from the sea by preaching at water's edge, a lesson to those not listening to his sermon, and holding the Child Jesus, who is said to have appeared to Anthony.

"He was chosen by God for this gift," Zina said of the apparition. "He is a saint known mostly for his love, and for his ministry to the sick."

Zina, who was born in Besharee, Lebanon, says parts of the Mass in Aramaic, an ancient, Semitic language, related to Hebrew, and spoken once by many Jews, including Jesus. Syriac, a branch of Aramaic, was once widely used in the early Church, and is still spoken in parts of Syria, where Maronite Catholics have been among those displaced by the current civil war. The Maronite rite is among the oldest in the Catholic Church, with roots in what is now Turkey, and later Lebanon, where they escaped Muslim persecution. While in union with Roman Catholicism, the Maronite Church, an Eastern rite, has its own liturgy, bishops and clergy. It traces its heritage to Maro, a hermit of the 5th century who lived in the mountains around Antioch, and St. John Maron, the first Patriarch of the Maronite Church in Antioch. It was to Antioch that Christ's Apostles, including Peter, brought the liturgy of the Last Supper, where it is said to have developed in both Greek and Syriac.

Deacon Enzo V. DiGiacomo is an East Longmeadow resident who has been a member of the parish for 38 years, and serves as a permanent deacon there. He called his faith "a pathway to stability in life here on Earth, and a wonderful pathway to the afterlife, from beginning to end." He echoed Zina's enthusiasm for the relic, and noted the saint's popularity, particularly among those with heritage to the countries' where Anthony lived.

"I have always had a devotion to St. Anthony going. He was born in Portugal, so the Portuguese had him at the beginning, and, he died in Italy, so we had him at the end."

He added the relic's presence would serve "as an enlightenment for the entire parish, and provide the ability for parishioners to share the relic with the public over nine days."

"There is a great deal of satisfaction in that, because, in the Church, and in faith, it is more about what you give away then receive," DiGiacomo said.

Bishop McDonneil will celebrate a Maronite Rite liturgy at St. Anthony at 11 a.m. on Sept. 6. with the Most Rev. Gregory J. Mansour, bishop of the Epachy (diocese) of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, which oversees the Maronite Church in 16 states. When asked about his own appreciation for the saint, McDonnell admitted to a personal connection in his statement.

"For almost 800 years, St. Anthony has held a special place in the hearts and minds of countless people who have come to know him as a powerful intercessor with God. As someone whose middle name is Anthony (in honor of the saint), I'm positive that the presence of the St. Anthony relic here, in Springfield, next September will be a source of graces and blessings for us all."